Deorala

Deorala is a village in the Sikar district of Rajasthan, India.

Deorala

Diwrala
village
Nickname(s): 
Diwrala
Country India
StateRajasthan
DistrictSikar
Languages
  OfficialHindi
  Un OfficialShekhawati
Time zoneUTC+5:30 (IST)
ISO 3166 codeRJ-IN
Vehicle registrationRJ 23
Nearest cityAjitgargh, Sri Madhopur, Sikar

Deorala is a village in the Shekhawati region. It is located near Amarsar which was the capital of Maharao Shekhaji, precursor of all Shekhawat rajputs. It is also called Diwrala and Divrala.

It became infamous because of the Sati incident that took place on 4 September 1987.[1]

Sati

The victim of the Sati incident was of an educated 18-year-old woman named Roop Kanwar, who was a resident of the village and whose husband, Mal Singh Shekhawat, had died of disease the previous day. While many details remain unclear, many claim that she took the decision to follow the ancient custom and died on the funeral pyre of her husband, while the general feeling is that she was forced by the villagers onto the pyre, perhaps after having been given some sedatives.

After she had burnt to death, the place was converted into a memorial and thousands of people from surrounding regions started visiting it, though afterwards the area was sealed in order not to promote sati as a legitimate action, and to prevent similar incidents happening in the future.

Although family members and others were arrested following this incident, they were acquitted.[2][3] Many are not fully satisfied with the judgement.[4] Women's organizations pressurized the government to reopen the case [5]

Positive developments

Publications such as Outlook Magazine have highlighted positive developments from the village, such as election of a women sarpanch to highlight the change in people's perception of women's place in the society [6]

Population

The village population is over 9,000.

References

  1. Deorala Episode: Women's Protest in Rajasthan Sharada Jain, Nirja Misra and Kavita Srivastava Economic and Political Weekly Vol. 22, No. 45 (7 Nov. 1987), pp. 1891+1893-1894 (article consists of 3 pages) Published by: Economic and Political Weekly Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/4377696
  2. Accused in Deorala `sati' case acquitted http://www.hindu.com/2004/02/01/stories/2004020101110700.htm
  3. `Sati' and the verdict http://www.frontlineonnet.com/fl2105/stories/20040312002504600.htm
  4. Abraham, Susan.: "The Deorala Judgement Glorifying Sati" by Susan Abraham. The Lawyers Collective. 12(6); June, 1997. p.4-12. http://www.womenstudies.in/elib/sati/sa_the_deorala.pdf
  5. HC orders reopening of Deorala sati case http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2004-08-07/open-space/27153961_1_sati-case-roop-kanwar-deorala
  6. Showing The Way In Deorala http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?204912
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.